All is Not Lost
by Raexneol
Summary: They thought the war was over. They thought they could move on. They were wrong; nightmares, after all, are not so easily banished. IchiIshi main, multiple others.
1. An Uneasy Alliance

This... is not what I need to be doing right now. I need to be studying for midterms, lol. However, this little plot-bunny decided that it just would not die, and so here is a brief introduction to a story that's been building in my subconscious mind for months now.

Bleach and its characters do not belong to me, they belong to Tite Kubo-sensei. Trust me, if they belonged to me, Ishida would take _way_ more advantage of shirtless Ichigo.

* * *

Under the false sky beneath the dome of Hueco Mundo, in the stillness of death that comes only at a battle's end, he opened his eyes.

That alone was a surprise in and of itself-he could have sworn he remembered watching his own hand turn to dust before these very eyes. Now, though, he lifted that same hand, and green orbs narrowed when he beheld it whole and unscathed.

"This… is highly improbable. Impossible, even. So how…?"

"Why're you always askin' questions?" a voice piped up from no more than ten feet away.

Green eyes swiveled towards the sound, a single dark eyebrow arching at the sight of a battered but otherwise intact Grimmjow Jaegerjacques. Fantastic.

"Of all the Espada to survive, how did trash like you manage it?" he deadpanned, shaking his head minutely and moving to stand only to find that he was semi-imprisoned in one of that human girl's healing chambers.

"There was a lot to reject. You won't be getting' outta there any time soon. Amazing, really, that she brought you back from fuckin' _ashes_," Grimmjow mumbled, moving to sit beside the lightly glowing done-Ulquiorra couldn't fight right now, after all, so he figured he could afford to relax.

"Truly amazing, that power of hers… Tell me, is Yammy dead yet?" Ulquiorra asked, flexing his reiatsu experimentally and widening his eyes when it swelled further than expected-interesting.

Meanwhile, Grimmjow had felt that swell and warily moved away, appropriately cautious around the Cuatro Espada-not that numbers meant a goddamn thing anymore, he supposed. "Yeah. He died about an hour ago. They're trynna find a way back to that li'l town so they can help fight, I think; from what I understand, though, Kurosaki went on ahead."

"… If he has already left, then can they not just leave the way he did?" Simpletons, Ulquiorra thought.

"Guess not. One of the Captains found Szayel's Garganta-maker, but they can't all get through using it," Grimmjow muttered, rolling his eyes-leave it to the fallen Octava Espada to overcomplicate things.

"Ah. And you know this because…?"

"Cat, remember? They're about a mile and a half, two miles that-a-way. I don't think they know the chick's workin' on us, because no one's come by. Anyway, they've just sort of started arguing amongst themselves now, saying that if they don't hurry, the fight's gonna be over before they can get there."

"Mm. The fight is already over. Their friends are all dead. Or near death, for those that have somehow managed to cling to life. Aizen has moved on to the true Karakura Town in Soul Society."

"How… How do you know that? Oh. Oh, that's right, that creepy ass eye. So, they didn't manage to kill the bastard, eh? Damnit…" Grimmjow tsked, leaning back on his forearms and glaring at the sky-if he was surprised at all at the drop in honorific, he didn't show it. Aizen _had_ just abandoned them there, after all.

"Not for lack of trying. Perhaps the time has come in which a change of tactics would be beneficial. They are having trouble leaving Hueco Mundo, yes? Let us offer our assistance." With that, Ulquiorra fired a cero through his makeshift prison, shattering the powerful magic easily. Standing, the petite Arrancar brushed himself off and led the way over to the remaining group of shinigami and humans.

Understandably, he was met by a barrage of attacks-he'd nearly killed one among them, after all, though he did notice the Quincy's hand was back, and technically, it was his fault they were all here. Unfortunately for the group doing the attacking, they severely underestimated their opponents-the Quincy boy's arrows were entirely too slow to strike him, the whip-like zanpakutou was used as a launching point to incapacitate the odd human with the mechanical arm, and the flurry of cherry blossoms fell to his and Grimmjow's blades.

"Were I here to attack you," the small Espada snapped, "you would already be dead. My interest does not lie in fighting."

"Then perhaps you could enlighten us. What do you want?" The one who spoke-_Kuchiki Byakuya, Division Six Taichou_, he recalled-was wary as he regarded this unfamiliar Arrancar, more so when he noticed how both his sister and Fukutaichou tensed up, glares fixed on the blue haired one. Even Ishida was on high alert, almost shaking as he glared defiantly at the other, deceptively small one.

"You are in need of assistance. Aizen made it impossible to leave via Senkaimon, and you cannot summon Garganta on your own. I… would like to offer my aid," Ulquiorra said, looking at them as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Do you honestly expect us to believe that?" Ishida snapped, summoning his bow once more only to pause as Byakuya calmly set a hand on his wrist, cool gray eyes regarding the apparently rebel Hollows.

"Why?" was his only question, and Grimmjow saved Ulquiorra the trouble of answering.

"You think we wanted to be his pawns? He played with us like we were his fuckin' _toys_, shinigami. And now that our usefulness is over, he's left us here to die. Personally, I want Aizen dead more than I want anything in the world, and if Kurosaki's the only one that can do that, then I'm gonna damned well do all I can to make it happen," the blue haired man growled. Apparently, that was good enough for Byakuya, because he only glared at the two for a few moments more before returning his attention to the smaller of the two.

"And you?"

"I agree with the vast majority of his statements. I, too, wish to aid in the death of Aizen, since I can now fight without his former restrictions."

"Fine, fine, they wanna help! So open the goddamned Garganta already-"

"Abarai-fukutaichou."

"What? It's been _hours_ since Strawberry hopped dimensions, Taichou, and the Senkaimon still aren't working. We _need_ to get Orihime over there and help while we can," Renji respectfully snapped, making no effort to hide his worry-five of his dearest friends, his family, were over there, damnit, and here was their chance to provide backup! (He refused to even _think_ of Shuuhei being over there right now.)

Finally, after a few minutes of staring hard at the Arrancar in silent contemplation, Byakuya sighed and nodded, looking at them with no little amount of reluctance but gesturing for Ulquiorra to go ahead and open it before indicating the general direction over his shoulder as he looked at Grimmjow. "There are others over there, Espada-"

"Grimmjow."

"Excuse me?" Byakuya snapped, clearly displeased at being interrupted.

"My name is Grimmjow. I'm not an Espada, not anymore. Would you like for me to walk around callin' you _shinigami_?" Grimmjow shot back, narrowing his ice blue eyes.

"Of course not. I am not merely a shinigami. You, however, are merely a Hollow. The fact that I am even granting you the title of Espada should be a compliment to you," the Kuchiki heir coolly snapped, making not only Grimmjow bristle; even Ulquiorra stiffened, narrowing his green eyes at the Captain.

However, just as Grimmjow went for his sword, the little Arrancar held up an authoritative hand, and the blue haired one stopped out of sheer habit.

"You are right," Ulquiorra murmured, much to the shock of those present, "however, standing here and arguing semantics is hardly doing anything for your allies. So, if we could set aside these childish prejudices and move on…"

Once more, everyone present was shocked when Byakuya not only let the argument drop, he even went so far as to look somewhat abashed, tilting his head in silent apology after a few more moments of contemplation. "You have proven your point. I see I was a bit… over hasty in my assessment. I had no idea there was a rational being amongst you. Grimmjow, about a mile away, you will find two of my fellow Taichou, Kenpachi-Taichou and Mayuri-Taichou, their Fukutaichou, Yachiru and Nemu, and Kotetsu-Fukutaichou, a healer from the Fourth Division. Take Hanatarou so he may assist with any further injuries, then lead them to Karakura, if you would."

Nodding, Grimmjow looked at Ulquiorra for only a brief moment, hesitating as if he didn't want to leave him. All it took was a raised eyebrow from the slighter Hollow, though, and the blue haired man tsked and turned away, breaking into sonido and leaving Hanatarou to cry out and use what little shunpou he knew in order to catch up.

Ulquiorra watched until Grimmjow's figure faded, then glanced back at the rest of those gathered. He lifted his arm without any further preamble and summoned the Garganta, allowing everyone to step through. When Orihime made to pass him, though, he grabbed the girls arm, glaring as she hesitantly met his eyes.

"Why?" was all he asked, and to his surprise, Orihime smiled in response.

"You wanted to live. I saw it in your eyes. Szayel-Aporro, Nnoitra, Yammy… They'd lost their hope. They thought there was no way they could live after this, but you and Grimmjow… well, he wants to beat Ichigo, so he refuses to die. You, though, you finally came to understand why we were fighting. I brought you back hoping you would remember that," she said, giving the Arrancar that same infuriating smile.

"You put much faith in that hope, girl. Consider yourself lucky that I am not as egregious as the rest of those fools," Ulquiorra murmured, releasing her and lifting an eyebrow as she smiled brightly in response. Had he said something funny?

"I knew that the moment you 'kidnapped' me, Ulquiorra-san." Leaving him to puzzle over that, Orihime turned and darted through the inter-dimensional portal, and after a few moments more of silent contemplation, Ulquiorra followed. It seemed as though this would end up being a far more interesting idea than he'd previously anticipated.


	2. The Truth Comes Out

Long overdue chapter 2, guys. For some reason, I re-wrote this about five times, but none of the previous ideas were at all interesting. This is closer to where I wanted to go, so I hope you enjoy it. I took some liberties, mostly because I love little Ulquiorra and was wholly unsatisfied with the lack of information we got on him. So bear with me, I swear it's all… well, sort of relevant to the rest of the plot. Enjoy.

* * *

There were many things that Ishida noticed as he stepped through the Garganta and into Karakura Town, but only one really got to him. Chief among his observations, true, was the sheer destruction; if there was a single building left untouched among the wreckage, he couldn't find it, and he was pretty positive that Ulquiorra's portal had deposited them onto the only clear section of street in a ten mile radius.

There was the blood, too-there was _a lot_ of blood. It was everywhere, spattered over the street, still dripping, slow and thick, down the white concrete that had once been buildings. The stench of death hung in the air, and not far from him he heard Orihime gag even as she darted off to help Unohana-Taichou.

By far the worst, though, was the silence. It was that eerie, too quiet silence that came after an epic war, the sound of death in its purest, truest form. The silence made Ishida's skin crawl, but he made himself snap out of his macabre thoughts so he could assist with the injured; being the son of a doctor, after all, had its advantages.

"Interesting."

Ishida jumped about a mile as Ulquiorra's voice came from right behind himhe hadn't even felt the Arrancar's reiatsu! Resisting the urge to clutch his chest, the Quincy instead pushed up his glasses and turned his distracted gaze to the small Hollow, tightening the bandage around the unconscious Ikkaku's torso as he did so. "What is?"

"The only traces of reiatsu I feel are of the shinigami present. Yet I know for a fact that Staark, Barrigan, and Harribel were dispatched along with Aizen, and their Fracción accompanied them. Not to insult your abilities or those of your allies, but I find it… very hard to believe that they obliterated them all with so few deaths to your ranks," Ulquiorra stated, impassive green eyes scanning the area. "In fact, I sense only three, perhaps four, and their residual power suggests that they were hardly of merit."

"Two of the seven lost were from my division, Hollow," Byakuya stated coldly as he passed by, and while Grimmjow bristled off in the distance (Ishida only noticed because of the sudden swelling of reiatsu), Ulquiorra remained unaffected.

"I said that I meant no insult. It is not my concern if you decided to take offense anyway." With that, the former Espada wandered off, presumably to examine the bodies of his slain comrades to make sure they hadn't insulted him by being killed by mere shinigami.

Byakuya glared after him for a few more moments before turning on his heel and sweeping off to attend to those he could; his kidou skills, after all, were nearly unmatched, and though he couldn't _heal_, he could certainly stop time around the wounds to slow the bleeding.

With that little tiff over, Ishida was dismayed to find that the ensuing silence rang louder than before, leaving him with naught but his thoughts. All at once, he was struck with a horrifying one: Karakura Town, his home, was… was destroyed. His home. The school. And among all this wreckage, there were other bodies. Hundreds-no, thousands, of all those innocent humans caught in a war they would never have seen coming. His friends. Kurosaki's _sisters_, so young and helpless without their older brother. His father.

He hadn't realized he was crying until Renji came up and settled a hand on his shoulder, his worried brown eyes staring down at him. "You okay?" he asked, and Ishida felt like laughing and cutting him down all at once. Was he _okay_?

"I… Karakura, it's… and _everyone_"

"It's not real, you know."

Now that made Ishida pause, his brows furrowing as he looked up at the sixth division Fukutaichou. "What do you mean?" he demanded, hope trying to flutter up in his chest amidst the devastation.

"This town. The real Karakura is in Soul Society. Some of our most skilled kidou-users transported it there… Mmm, I guess it was five or six days ago, according to Kuchiki-Taichou. Yamamoto-Soutaichou seemed to realize that Aizen had never really intended to wait, and only let himself look so predictable so as to lull us into a false sense of security. You know, wait until a bunch of us were tied up in Hueco Mundo, especially you guys."

"Why us?" Ishida asked, tying a bandage tight around a shinigami's leg (he didn't know him, but the insignia stated that he was from the tenth division).

"You and Kurosaki as well as Chad and 'Hime posed the biggest threat to him here. I mean, yeah, Urahara's here, but no one in Soul Society would ever take him seriously; at least, that was what he thought, but it turned out that Urahara was a big part of what helped them get all the pieces into place. I guess he isn't as all-knowing as he wants us to think, huh?" Renji chuckled, but before Ishida could reply, his voice was stolen. Everyone who could sense reiatsu froze, those that were able reaching for their weapons as the fourth division immediately gathered up the wounded and got them somewhere central, somewhere safe.

But none of that mattered, Ishida knew; if even Ichigo couldn't defeat Ulquiorra's released form, none of them stood a chance. Grimmjow drew his sword and growled, "Grind, Pantera," as he faced the direction Ulquiorra seemed to be coming from, and though the blue-haired Arrancar possessed great strength… Well, it was like a raindrop trying to compete with an ocean.

The brunet finally appeared, and to everyone's shock (well, at least Ishida's and Grimmjow's), he was wingless, his sword still firmly planted in its case, his posture deceptively calm. The other Espada, however, seemed to know better.

"What's got you all pissy, Quatro?" he called, but Ulquiorra made no response until he was nearly nose to nose with the Espada.

"Schiffer."

"Huh?" Grimmjow blinked stupidly.

"Call me Schiffer. Hell, call me Ulquiorra, for all I care, but do not remind me of that bastard's tyranny by calling me Quatro. He killed them, Jaegerjacques. He cut them down while their backs were turned," the petit brunet hissed, his reiatsu crackling like lightning, his eyes showing the furious rage his body kept so well hidden.

With a sudden flash of understanding, Grimmjow's brows furrowed and he shook his head slowly, his sword dropping to dangle limply by his side. "No."

"Go look at their bodies yourself, Jaegerjacques. His reiatsu is all over them. He killed them while they were preoccupied, that coward, probably fighting his battle for him. I swear to you, if Kurosaki fails to kill him, _I_ will."

"You…? Don't be an idiot, Quatro-"

"_Schiffer_."

"Schiffer, right, right, sorry. Jesus, you're burned up about all this. I mean, I'm mad, too, but-" Grimmjow cut off abruptly and winced at the incredulous look Ulquiorra was giving him (to be fair, it just involved a slight raising of his eyebrows, but he may as well have been slack-jawed with amazement).

"Mad? You're _mad_? This isn't… isn't some foolish argument you two are in. Not some tiff about where you're being assigned next or whether or not you're allowed to leave the compound. He enslaved us!" the green-eyed Arrancar ranted, but before he could go any further, Renji spoke up.

"Whoa. Whoa, you guys were enslaved?" he interrupted, probably risking his neck, and silently, Byakuya made a note to start taking applications for a new Fukutaichou. The glare he was pinned with said that was probably a good idea, too (really, if a glare could kill, Renji was sure Ulquiorra's body count would be _way_ higher), but the rather foolish redhead continued. "Didn't you just join up, like, to kill the shinigami? The enemy of my enemy is my friend and all that, you know."

Both Arrancar gave Renji identical looks of disdain, but while the taller looked about to give Renji a verbal ass-whooping, the smaller spoke in a deceptively calm voice.

"Tell me, when Aizen revealed his true self to you, did he ever allow himself to be mistaken for a pushover?"

"… No, but-"

"Someone who could be reasoned with?"

"Well, no-"

"A man who took no for an answer?"

"When you put it like that-"

"Exactly. He was amiable when making his initial proposition, of course, but if he sensed the slightest opposition, he would strike. You all know well the power of his zanpakutou."

"Of course; but that… Surely it wasn't that easy for him," Ishida spoke up, understandably skeptical. Hell, they _all_ were. Aizen had more Arrancar in his legion than any of them had even known existed. Surely he hadn't fought them all?

"For some of us, it was. Barrigan wanted to own Hueco Mundo, and Aizen let us all… I dunno, work under the illusion that we were kings. Staark wanted companions, and he obviously got them. Nnoitra and Yammy wanted to kill shit. Szayel wanted to play bats hit-crazy doctor, and I wanted power. He watched us, he _knew_ already what we wanted, and he gave it. Some… Well, Harribel, I remember, was tough to recruit. He fought her, but won her respect… sort of, at least. Aaroniero… he was odd. Joined willingly enough in hopes of becoming an Arrancar-"

"Huh? You mean he wasn't?" Renji asked, and Grimmjow snarled openly, annoyed at having been interrupted once more. "Sorry, but weren't you all Arrancar? I mean, I didn't see any of you there with a mask on."

This time, it was Rukia who popped in. "No, I remember fighting him. He was like the other Arrancar in shape, but… I dunno. His head was a giant test tube, and both the faces inside were masked," she said, and Grimmjow nodded.

"He was a Gillian, but he specialized in backstabbing, so he worked his way up to Espada ranking. Anyway, so you can see how Aizen hooked us. With those and the promise of all the souls, Plus and Hollow alike, that we could ever hope for," Grimmjow finished with a shrug.

"You didn't mention Ulquiorra, I noticed," Orihime said, and she gave the brunet a curious look, making him blink, seeming to come back to himself.

"Me?" the green eyed Espada looked at her, a touch of confusion in his eyes.

"Yes. You… never seemed content there like the others. And you looked at Aizen all the time like he had done you some personal wrong," the girl said, sympathy obvious in her brown eyes; sure, he'd held her captive, but Ulquiorra had never been cruel to her. She took a seat as he seemed to find the best way to answer-after all the healing she'd been doing, she felt a bit faint, and it would be nice to figure out more about this enigma while she rested.

"He gave me nothing. I refused to come with him, and he attacked. I easily overcame him the first time… But then he drew a… a different sword."

Grimmjow, who had never heard of the events of Ulquiorra's recruitment, looked intrigued. "A different sword? You mean your zanpakutou? I mean, he had mine with him when he recruited me…"

"Yes, I'm sure that after his incident with me, he was sure to take such precautions," Ulquiorra said, glaring at the sword by his side. "Staark was not always meant to be the Primera Espada; it was a title he offered to me, but I refused."

"You…?" Grimmjow asked, more than a bit skeptical-Ulquiorra was strong, that much was absolutely true, but that strength was nothing compared to Staark's.

"The condition was that I comply and go willingly. I did not, and so was 'persuaded'; the only hit he managed to land on me was with the zanpakutou he brought, not his own weapon. Do you know, Grimmjow, what happens when you are struck with your own weapon, Jaegerjacques?"

"W-well, no. He didn't have to persuade me much"

"Then you wouldn't know that if you are even so much as knicked with the blade, your power is absorbed, cut down. Even at full power, when in my second Resurreccion, I had only managed to achieve a quarter of my true strength."

There was silence when he said that-Ishida couldn't believe it. He had seen how ridiculously powerful Ulquiorra was in his second forme, and that wasn't even the tip of the iceberg? That was at a _quarter_ of his potential?

"However, my death seems to have freed me of that; I could tell when I arrived that my reiatsu had preceded me. That was all I needed to know in order to confirm my beliefs about Aizen's tactics. So yes, I am out for blood, as Nnoitra would say-to be an unwilling slave to him, his… his _secretary _and his-" Ulquiorra cut him off, looking down at the ground and clenching his fists, his eyes narrowed to slits as he struggled to regain control over himself. "If I ever see him again, if he somehow manages to survive the fight with Kurosaki, I _will_ kill him."

With those ominous words, he turned on his heel and marched away, but before he could get far, Grimmjow asked, "Where the hell're you going?"

"Our fallen comrades were… quite powerful, and it would be a shame to let that power go to waste; add to that the fact that I have not eaten in a while… Barrigan is over that way, if you'd like him."

"You're talking like you're going to eat them or something," Renji said, trying at a joke, but his smile faded as both former Espada gave him deadpan looks.

"That is the general idea, yes."

"I call Harribel, too; you're already stupidly strong, you selfish bastard."

"Disgusting trash, I don't want to know what you truly want with-"

"Don't even finish that, Schiffer, seriously. I'm almost offended."

Their voices faded as they finally put enough distance between themselves and the shinigami, and it was only after they'd been gone for a good five minutes before Renji finally spoke up again, voicing what was surely on everyone's mind: "That's so many different kinds of disgusting. Like, seriously, I think I'm going to be sick. We have all the shinigami bodies, right?"

* * *

Once all the wounded were stabilized and the dead transported with them back to Soul Society (after a careful headcount that the present Arrancar couldn't help but find a bit amusing), the rather motley crew from Hueco Mundo set about arguing over what they were going to do now. Ulquiorra and Grimmjow were vehemently protesting the idea of going off to find Ichigo, as neither believed they would be able to restrain themselves if they were to come face to face with Aizen.

The remainder of the group could find no problem with this.

"It isn't our kill to make," Ulquiorra kept arguing, and while it looked like it pained him to agree, the blue-haired Espada kept nodding.

"But it would take _nothing_ for you to defeat him! What if Ichigo needs help?" Orihime pleaded, and to everyone's immense surprise, Ulquiorra actually seemed apologetic as he turned to her.

"Aizen has become one with the Hougyoku. Even if we were to leave at this very moment, if he is the true master of the jewel, Ichigo is likely already dead." The humans paled as the shinigami stared in complete disbelief, and off to the side, Orihime collapsed against Chad, already sobbing.

"And if he isn't?" a voice asked softly from behind him. Ulquiorra turned to see Rukia, eyes downcast as she gripped her zanpakutou tightly, as if she could destroy the very thought of Ichigo losing.

"Pardon?"

"What if he isn't the true master of the Hougyoku?"

"Then I assume Ichigo will have no problem defeating him," Ulquiorra stated, shrugging. This infuriated Rukia. Her voice shook as she tried to contain her anger.

"So there's a chance that he may need us to help him, that he may have _already_ won and be laying there injured or _worse_, and you won't help us get to him because of some… some stupid _grudge_? I don't care if it isn't 'in your place' to kill him; it isn't in _ours_ to just _sit here_!" Rukia didn't mean to scream, really, but by the time she was done, the empty city was reverberating with the petit woman's angry accusations.

As Ulquiorra tried to understand just where her anger was coming from (really, it was a perfectly logical argument that he presented, but he should have known that these shinigami would think nothing of battles of honor and pride), Kuchiki-Taichou put a restraining hand on his sister's shoulder and asked, "Tell me, Ulquiorra-san. Do _you_ believe Aizen is the true master of the Hougyoku?"

Those huge, expressionless eyes met the Captain's and held them for a moment. "No. In fact, if Ichigo were to lose to Aizen, I would not only be shocked, I would be thoroughly disgusted with myself."

Silence reigned for a moment, and then, despite the tense, heavy atmosphere, Renji and Grimmjow _cracked up_. Rukia glared at them both, hissing, "I hardly think this is the time-" Grimmjow, however, would have none of the scolding, and turned to glare venomously at Rukia.

"Then what will be the time, huh? Because it sure ain't gonna be when we get there and find Kurosaki's mangled corpse, but hey, at least he'll get to be a real shinigami, right, so you don't care-"

The response was immediate. The present shinigami drew their swords as Renji growled, "You watch how you talk to her, you fucking _Hollow piece of shit_-"

Rukia, too, joined the fray, spitting, "Don't you talk about him like it's no big deal, you bastard! If he loses, it's _your ass_ I'm coming after-"

Ulquiorra watched in growing confusion as some stupid little squabble threatened their already shaky alliance, and though it pained him greatly, he eventually sighed and held up a hand, summoning a Garganta that would lead them to the true Karakura Town. However, any and all attempts to call their attention to it were ignored.

The cero, as it happened, was not.

"If this is how you respond to mere teasing, I fail to understand how any of you are still alive today. Come, stop this foolishness," the petit Hollow chided, and Ishida, who had chosen to stay out of that little tiff, had to scratch his nose to cover his grin as all who had drawn their swords shamefacedly put them back, grumbling to themselves as they shuffled through the Garganta. As Grimmjow went to go through, Ulquiorra surprised Ishida again by punching the blue-haired Arrancar in the solar plexus. The response was immediate; Grimmjow dropped to his knees and clutched the area, his face turning red as he struggled to take in air, all while Ulquiorra looked down emotionlessly, waiting for him to stop his theatrics.

"Are you quite finished?"

"You could have killed me, you insane bastard!"

"But I did not."

"You… Ugh. Never mind," Grimmjow grumbled, by now well aware that arguing with Ulquiorra would just give him a headache. Still rubbing the spot on his chest (Ishida noticed that there was an ugly bruise so dark it could have passed for another Hollow hole, though it was already healing), the taller Arrancar strode through the Garganta, and Ishida followed after him quickly, hurried on by the questioning look in those green eyes.

The Garganta deposited them on the outskirts of Karakura Town, and even from this far away the signs of battle were obvious; the combined reiatsu of Ichigo and Aizen's new form was almost enough to make even Byakuya struggle to remain upright.

"Jesus," Grimmjow muttered, but before anyone could even agree with him, it all just… vanished, and Ishida couldn't help but frantically think that this was far worse.

"We have to find him," he hissed, and without another word, he darted off, speeding towards the dust plume in the distance. Byakuya was the first to arrive, seeing as how he was the shunpou master among them, but the Quincy was right on his heels, and while the Captain had to pause for a moment, looking between Ichigo and Aizen as he tried to decide which was greater, his concern or his duty, Ishida was immediately by his friend's side. As the others arrived, they each separated based on duty, it seemed; the Captains all ended up surrounding Aizen, using what Kidou they knew to restrain the rogue shinigami until Yamamoto-Soutaichou and the others showed up.

However, the largest group by far was the one surrounding Ichigo, who had by now been carefully turned onto his back, Orihime tending to his wounds as Ishida, Chad, and the other shinigami crowded around him. All was tense, silent, until the redhead suddenly stirred, wincing as he returned from unconsciousness into a world of pain. Groaning, his eyes cracked open before his lips pulled into a pained smile.

"'Hime. Chad. Ishida-you guys made it back alright?" he croaked, and while Orihime tried to contain herself, Ishida snorted.

"Obviously. We fared far better than you did, at least. Honestly, Kurosaki, must you always make such a mess of yourself?" Ishida sniffed.

"Ha. Where is everyone else?"

"What the hell do you mean, where is everyone else? We're right here, Ichigo," Renji drawled, grinning down at his friend, but… there was literally no reaction. Not a tick, not a grin, not even a flicker of the human's brown eyes in his direction. The other humans looked back at Renji in confusion, then down at Ichigo.

"What do you mean, Kurosaki-san? They're all right here!" Orihime said, gesturing to the air around them, and all shinigami present nodded, murmurs of concern making their way through the crowd-what was he playing at?

Ichigo, however, just looked bewildered, his eyes seeing nothing but empty air as Orihime gestured widely, and for the first time in this entire escapade he felt true fear. "Orihime, I… I can't see them."


End file.
